Notes / Commercial Description:
Based loosely on the Smokestack Series’ The Sixth Glass, this abbey-style quadrupel is separated into a number of oak bourbon barrels where it ages for varying lengths of time, some for up to three years. Cherries are added to make up for the “angel's share” of beer lost during barrel aging. Selected barrels are then blended for optimum flavor. The resulting beer retains only very subtle cherry characteristics, with toffee and vanilla notes coming to the fore.

More User Reviews:

A special gift from my son, who gave it to me on Christmas Day, 2013. I cellared it for a year, and decided to start the New Year, and tick off my 1,0000th beer rating on BA, with this truly excellent brew. Upon pulling the cork, a sweet aroma of cherries and licorice arise from the bottle. Poured from the 750 ml bottle into a Jester King goblet, the smell is intensified. The head is thick, light brown in color, with fine lacing that traces the glass as the beer is quaffed. The body of the brew is orange-brown, with tiny bubbles rising from below, like champagne. The first sip of this abbey style quadrupel highlights the aroma, with a trace of vanilla and bourbon flavor coming through. Despite it's 11.8 abv you can barely taste the alcohol, which is layered with all the other flavors that roll around on your tongue. I know not many beers I enjoy this coming year will be quite as grand as this one, because it sets the bar high, but I am thrilled to be starting 2015 with such a fantastic example of what beer can be!

An increadible beer that defies styles, challenges the taste buds, and pushes the edges of experimental to the brim. All that, and this is a really good beer!

The beer pours a deep ruby, mohogany color that seems to glow with more crimson highlights than any other beer. An off white head takes a 1/4" foot hold and never relinquishes. Lots of lacing on the glass and a moderate haze throughout. A handsome looking beer.

Mouthwatering aromas of deep amber and toasty malts that give a firm base of toffee, rich breads, and a hint of chocolate tucked in closely behind. A lot of fruity character comes undoutedly from the cherry additions but also from yeasty esters giving more berry, apple, and fig character. All this wrapped up in a bourbony, vanilla, and caramel complexity.

Flavors swirl with the bourbon, fruits, and hearty malts giving a newly found taste with every sip. Agressive in the strength of alcohol but delicate in the soft vanillans and cotton-candy caramels. Wood chracter gives a nutty, oaky, and slightly musty character that accents the cherries and gives the yeasty flavors a bit of company. Perhaps a bit tart at times, the beer may have a few bugs on board- but it could be all cherries too.

Body is full, round, rich, but not thick or heavy. In true Quad fashion, the beer's carbonation lifts it off of the surfaces of the mouth and seem to partially evaporate just before the warm and lingering finish.

I was more than a little excited to see a shelf full of this at my local grocery alcove.

A-
This beer is beautiful. The bottle is the usual "limited release" design from Boulevard, and the pour reveals a deep and promising amber.

S-
The smell REALLY reminds me of Boulevard's own "Rye on Rye." A bit of slick coconut and some strong grainy scents dominate the initial nose. A second whiff reveals cherries and a hint of spice. Perfectly tantalizing!

T-
Tastes like it smells, and (again) reminds me ever so fondly of Rye on Rye. It has a different sort of taste for a quad, and definitely plays more to the bourbon/fruit beer crowd. Oddly enough, Boulevard's "Sixth Glass" might be a better quad... but certainly not a better brew. At room temp, this beer opens up with some delicious dryness and an even bigger dose of cherry pulp. Delicious

M-
Dry, spicy, tangy. The dryness is definitely the defining attribute of the mouthfeel, in my opinion. Outstanding.

O-
This is up there with the very best that Boulevard has to offer. Lightweights and non-commited beer drinkers might consider sharing this (duh) but I had no trouble sipping it down by myself over a few hours. A highly recommended beer, and a truly unique one!

I almost don't even want to rate this. I have a hard time admitting that perfection exists, even in something as trivial as beer. Bottled 2/2009 served into a Unibroue tulip.

The pour, even though not vigorous produces a fluffy tan head. Sitting atop a leather base, the tan head lingers. Forever. It recedes slightly, but sticks around coating the glass with a nice lattice lacing, holding on to the sides of the glass for dear life.

Sounds like a bowl of rice krispies. Maybe a cheery fire in the winter time, this beer has something to say, and what it says is "what's up?". It's begging me to take a sip.

The smell immediately bursts forth with tart cherries and caramel. There's some quad spice in the background, but the delicate tartness takes the forefront.

The beer flows into the mouth and fills it first with a quad-like spice. The spice turns into an oaky vanilla and then finally fades into a delicious bourbon sweetness. Holding everything together is a light tartness that ties everything up in a nice little package. The beer is phenomenal. It talks to me on so many levels. Liquid excellence. Perfection even.

This is a fantastic beer that has nearly everything, fantastic head, great aroma, lingering taste that lets you remember good times. This is not thick or heavy just wonderful. You will be transported to what beer should be. No defined genera just fantastic taste and aroma.This is a beer that makes me hopeful for other american beers,

A- Pours a hazy, deep copper in color. Somewhere between a cherry wood tone the slick brown color on its bottle's label. Medium to large 3 finger head forms and retains very well. Lacing is ok. The body is dark enough to make it opaque, but it is also very hazy.

S- Massively complex. Starts with traditional quad flavors of dark fruits, biscuit-like malts, and a yeasty smell before the barrel takes over. The barrel flavors tend toward vanilla and sweet caramel and toffee. Hardly any trace of bourbon or oak. Cherries are on the back end of this smell.

T- Just like the scent; terrifically complex. Starts with a little more of the cherry and dark fruit flavors before moving toward the barrel flavor. The barrel flavors are fairly sweet and mellowed, mixing between vanilla, char, caramel malts, and toffee, with the cherries making a return on the back end. Biscuity flavor are present throughout the entire drink, taking a backseat and allowing the other flavors to work their magic in the foreground.

M- Smooth as hell, mild in carbonation, and no alcohol heat in the taste. Slight warming effect in the throat, but nothing compared to what it could be with the ABV.

Overall, holy crap! This beer could make Trappists scream in their abbeys. This is like taking the best beers of the old world, mixing them with cherries, America's best bourbon barrels, and fairy dust, and coming out with a beer that could make a grown man cry. Seriously, it's that good. I need to buy more bottles.

Taste: Fruity, at the outset, with figs first, brown sugar next and then sour cherries arriving; by mid-palate, the bourbon barrel takes over, with the oaky vanilla flavors dominating, perhaps a bit too much; after the swallow, the sour fruit and bourbon flavors are prominent

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with a high level of carbonation; plenty of warmth as well

Drinkability: Certainly interesting, but the combination of the sour cherry and bourbon flavors just doesn't cut it for me, from a drinkability perspective

T: Holy shit! Without a doubt, the best quad I've tried. So smooth with a bourbon entry followed by dark fruits (raisins, dates, plums). Then the vanilla/cherry backbone smooths this one out so well, you just can't help but want more, more.

M: Medium to heavy with thick, chewy carbonation.

O: I will be seeking this one out very soon. One of the stellar beers to be savored, aged and then savored again.

The pour yield a fizzy, what I normally expect from a sour, head. It seems to last and has some retention and lacing, but in a quad it seems really out of place. Nearly to the point I'm questioning what I'm about to drink.

I really cannot smell much of anything. I get this fruity ester that I have gotten in Boulevard's other smokestack series beers, but with nearly nothing behind it. I think there's some chocolate and bourbon or something like that but I honestly cannot get through the esters.

The mouth feel is over the top overly carbonated and thin as heck. It completely ruins the beer.

I'm not sure if I'm just the only guy not a fan or what, but the way the smokestack series is carbonated ruins what I think are otherwise decent beers. I'm sorry but they've either changed up the beer, people had older bottles, or I'm just alone in hating the way this drinks. A real shame because I think the flavors in this one are decent.

Quick edit, but if you swirl the glass for 2-3 minutes and get the carbonation out, it really does improve the beer. As this is likely not how it was intended to be, I won't amend the scores, but it makes a world of difference. The aroma and flavors are much more pronounced and the beer is now much more drinkable. Still a bit thin while being rather boozy so take that as you will.

2015 bottle,bottled 9/17/2015.Pours into a chalice a hazy russet brown with a thick creamy light khaki colored head atop that leaves broken lace behind as it settles into a frothy mass.a mix of bourbon/vanilla,caramel,and dark fruits in the nose...even some brown sugar detected.Bourbon soaked cherries with light toast,the caramel and brown hit nicely in the finish.Iam not sure I have had a quad as creamy in feel,just fantastic!Now this is a freakin great beer,I need to get more.

Oregon cherries on a Quad in a bourbon barrel: a perfect snapshot of American brewing.

Tan foam rises to the top of the glass without a problem; a hazed, brownish amber color. The aroma is a marriage of semi-tart cherries, vanilla beans and fusel alcohol, thick wad of caramel and a deep fruitiness. Smooth and creamy with a heavy malt body; feigns syrupy. Bam, there is that traditional Quad booze alcohol character that hits the palate with each sip. The maltiness settles things down with a heavy blanket of caramel, and within are layers of vanilla and hints of wood. The cherry flavor sits right smack in the middle, small but juicy. The wood flavor develops more when the beer warms; the cherry becomes juicier and the breath of alcohol becomes bigger toward the impressive ending. Sweet, juicy, boozy finish.

Spot-on for a Quad with some lovely extras, a beer of the ages ... with every sip, we heard an angel cry.